Final wave of CSDs go live on T2S

September 21, 2017

SWIFT has announced the successful migration of Iberclear (Spain) and the Baltic CSDs of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and their respective communities to live operations on T2S using its Value Added Network (VAN) solution for T2S.

The migration of this final wave of CSDs marks the end of the T2S migration plan, which started with the first wave back in June 2015. Since then, 95% of T2S Directly Connected Actors (DiCoAs), have migrated to T2S using the SWIFT VAN solution to connect to the new pan-European securities settlement platform. With the addition of the final wave, the SWIFT VAN is now carrying live traffic for more than 150 users (CSDs, Central Banks and Directly Connected Participants).

A major milestone had already been reached in February 2017 when the Wave 4 CSDs went live and volumes settled on T2S doubled overnight.

With 100% of expected volumes now on the T2S platform and close to 500,000 transactions being settled every day, users can really start to reap the benefits of a single European platform for securities settlement: liquidity savings, reduced cross border settlement costs, deeper market harmonisation and improved collateral management.

Jesús Benito, CEO of Iberclear, said: “Migration to T2S marks a major turning point in the evolution of the Spanish post-trade, after a years-long reform project which has been implemented in two stages. Not only does it mean a complete transformation of the Spanish post-trade processing, it also encompasses a new scenario for the European post-trade industry through its common settlement platform, Target2 Securities. Adoption of SWIFT’s VAN solution for T2S was the correct choice, in line with the joint efforts of the Spanish financial community to adapt the Spanish post-trade to mainstream European procedures. So, as well as thanking SWIFT for their support, we must also show gratitude to Spanish supervisors (Bank of Spain, CNMV) and the other members of the post–trade industry, like banks and brokers”.

Indars Ascuks, Head of the Nasdaq Baltic Market and CEO of Nasdaq CSD, said: “With the migration of Nasdaq CSD, providing services in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to T2S, the new core CSD IT platform and the start of the operations under the CSDR regime, the Baltic securities market is undergoing one of the biggest infrastructural changes in its history. We‘re excited to see strong commitment and cooperation from our partners and stakeholders which was critical to succeed. SWIFT has proven to be a reliable partner in helping us making the post- trade ecosystem in the Baltic region more integrated and competitive.”

Marc Bayle de Jessé, Director General, Market Infrastructures & Payments, European Central Bank said: “T2S has played a key role in driving the large-scale post-trade harmonisation agenda in Europe. Having joined T2S, Iberclear and Nasdaq, which use SWIFT as a network service provider licensed by the Eurosystem, are benefitting, along with the other participating CSDs, from increased efficiency and safety in securities settlement on a single European platform. Now that the final wave of the T2S migration plan is complete, we are looking forward to the multicurrency aspect of T2S becoming a reality when DKK migrates in October 2018.”

Alain Raes, Chief Executive, EMEA and Asia Pacific, SWIFT said: “We are very proud to have played such a significant part in the T2S migration plan. T2S is a major milestone in the transformation of the European securities market and an important building block in the Capital Markets Union (CMU). With this final migration wave behind us, we now look forward to supporting the community as volumes continue to ramp up and new markets and currencies join T2S. We are committed to supporting the platform and our customers as their operating models evolve and the Eurosystem moves towards a single gateway to access securities, liquidity and payments related services.”